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Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Just in the nick of time
The New York Times is reporting that the Graduate Entrance Exam (GRE) is being revamped for next year. This includes lengthening it to four hours (!) and implementing new methods to address cheating. The article is behind a subscription to the site, but here are some excerpts:
To enhance security, every question on the new exams will be used only once, and the test will start at different times in different time zones, so students who have finished cannot pass on questions to those in different zones.
As of next year, the test will no longer be "computer adaptive," with test-takers getting questions tailored to their performance on previous questions, so that each gets challenging questions that provide a clear picture of what they can do. Instead, every student taking the test on a particular day will get the same questions, and those questions will not be reused.
On the new exams, the verbal reasoning section will consist of two 40-minute sections rather than one 30-minute section, and will place less emphasis on vocabulary and more on higher cognitive skills.
The quantitative reasoning section will grow from one 45-minute section to two 40-minute sections, with fewer geometry questions and more on interpreting tables and graphs. And the analytical writing measure, which had a 45-minute essay and a 30-minute essay, will now have two 30-minute essays.
Posted by Will at October 18, 2005 10:43 AM in Graduate School